I feel like I'm some sort of a bad person. I read fanfiction, but I keep forgetting writing it. Well... I know it's really cruel of me to say so, but you haven't been helping either. Except for the few people, who reviewed and gave some positive feedback, I haven't gotten any and it makes me think if anyone's even reading it anymore. I need to know what you are thinking to keep going. Anyways. Since my guilt didn't let me sleep last night, I wrote something...

Enjoy!

The rest of the week went by quickly and soon Harry was sitting in the living room, waiting inpatiently for his friends to arrive. He was almost too sure that they should've been there already half an hour ago, but the watch Blaise gave him for Christmas kept showing strange stuff about him still having to wait for another five minutes. Finally the moment came and the fireplace lit up with green flames dancing around viciously.

A spinning boy with black hair appeared in the flames and jumped out to make way to another guest. Harry had just managed to give a small greeting smile to Blaise when he noticed the other guest doesn't look at all like Draco Malfoy should be. Instead she had long bushy hair and a really frightened face. It looked as if she had just managed to survive her first floo travel and Harry had to remind himself that it probably was so.

"Oh Merlin! That was the scariest thing I've ever had to do! I was so sure I would get the name of the fireplace all wrong and then I would've showed up in the middle of nowhere with no possibilities to come back..."

Harry laughed and Blaise tried to calm the scared girl down.

"Hermione... You would've just gone to another fireplace and the people there would probably let you try again. And there are possibilities to come back even if you were in the middle of nowhere - you're a witch!"

Hermione scowled at him and made a small remark about rather staying in the middle of nowhere than letting herself get kicked out from Hogwarts because the underage use of magic. That made even Blaise smirk.

The fire had died down now and Harry looked at Blaise.

"Where's Draco?"

Blaise just shrugged and looked at Hermione:"I have no idea. He wasn't at my place so maybe he'll be a little late. You know how his parents can be. Of all the holidays we've spent here, he's maybe arrived on time two or three times..."

Harry nodded and gave a small roll of eyes. Yes - he knew the Malfoy's enough to know that they're probably just torturing Draco and making him look like one of their albino peacocks. Just to show off in front of his dad and Sirius. What they didn't know was that every time Draco arrived looking like a real porcelain doll, he first spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom to make himself look more human. Even if it didn't work out, given his natural angelic looks.

Then he turned his attention to Hermione.

"But where did you come from? Home?"

Hermione blushed and looked at the floor.

"Well... I've been at Blaise's house for a few days now. We were exchanging letters for the first part of the holidays and then we found an interesting subject about Charms and he invited me over for a day, but then we found some other interesting theories and had to work on them for a while and today he told me he's gonna come here for a week or so and he also told me you wouldn't mind me coming with him and I hope you don't. If you do, I could go home! I mean... I already told my parents that I'm staying here for a few extra days and they were okay with it, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind me returning home either and I totally understand if you would like to be alone with Blaise and Draco, because they're your best friends and I'm not actually your kind of blood and maybe your family wouldn't like me being around."

All that was said really fast in one breath so Harry (and even Blaise) had to think for a few seconds just to understand what she was trying to say. The few seconds made Hermione feel really uncomfortable until Harry started laughing.

"Don't be silly! I'm sorry it took me some time to answer because I quite didn't catch everything you said at once, but of course you're welcome here! The more the merrier and don't worry about my family - they don't hold any prejudices. And if you want to leave with us at the end of the week then we can always arrange something to get your bags and stuff... By the way - where is your stuff?" He finished, turning to Blaise. The latter just shrugged and said something about his mom sending it later. "You know she doesn't like the idea of me travelling via floo with something that could bump into me and make me get thrown out from the fireplace..."

Harry laughed and nodded. Giving Blaise's past experiences this was highly likely - he had more than once fallen out from the fireplace because of his luggage. After the last time, when he ended up in Knockturn Alley instead of Diagon Alley (which earned a laugh from Harry - "How can you not say it right?"), his mother just denied him of any luggage he could drag along and insisted on sending it via magic or house elves.

All three had a good laugh after Harry had recalled that story and suddenly green flames sprouted from the fireplace and a really pretty looking Draco stepped into the living room, dragging his trunk behind him. His hair looked extra sleek and it's tips were a bit curled. Also his face wore this special clean glow it always did when he had to go somewhere and show off the Malfoy's purity. Blaise snorted and Harry really tried to hold back his grin. Draco was just about to throw a sharp comment about their expressions when he noticed Hermione.

"Oh no! Please tell me you're kidding! Not Granger! Of all the people in the world you had to invite her here and now she has seen me on my weak moment! Please, Dem - tell me it's actually a boggart!" He pleaded, but after seeing the stifled laughs on everybody's faces she cursed mildly and stomped up the stairs to spend the next ten minutes in a bathroom, getting his looks less angelic.

Harry, Blaise and Hermione just smiled, gave each others small smiles and shrugged. Then Harry proceeded on showing Hermione where the kitchen was and explaining which stairs went to their rooms. After that they just sat down in the living room and pretty soon Draco came back down the stairs looking a bit disheveled. At least there were no curls in his hair anymore, though his clean and pale face still showed a lot of his higher heritage. He sat down next to Harry and sighed deeply.

"Granger, if you tell anybody about what you just witnessed, I will feed you some potion that will make your hair permanently green with no way to reverse it!" He tried to shot a threatening glare to make his words matter more, but Hermione only smiled and promised not to tell anybody. And if it was possible, he felt even more embarrassed, so he tried to change the subject.

"Where are Severus and Sirius?" He asked casually and earned a knowing glance from his two best friends. Hermione, though, looked pretty confused and oblivious to his technique.

"Dad is in Diagon Alley, shopping for stuff we could need during the holidays and back in school and Sirius is probably upstairs, curled up asleep. Also - Moony is staying here. Dad invited him over for Christmas Eve and Sirius didn't allow him to leave anymore. But I have no idea of his whereabouts..."

Draco looked content with the given answers and yawned, before asking another question:"Is Mrs. Black sleeping?"

Harry smiled. Of course his grandmother wasn't sleeping. She had insisted on staying up until Draco would arrive and promised not to fall asleep before she was sure that Blaise was also sleeping.

"No. She wanted to see you first."

Draco grinned and jumped up from the couch. He sprinted to the hallway and everybody followed him. They stopped in front of a big painting of an old woman.

"Hello, Mrs. Black! How are you doing?" Draco exclaimed and shared a big smile with the lady.

"Oh! Aren't these my favorite boys... Except for you!" She shot a sharp look at Blaise and continued:"I'm as good as an old portrait could be. What about you, young Mr. Malfoy? How is school?"

Draco grinned and told her that everything was going great. "You taught us well, Mrs. Black!"

The old woman just smiled and nodded. But then her smile faded a bit. She had spotted a new face.

"Well hello there, young girl! Demetrius, why don't you introduce your new friend?"

Harry bit his lip and shared a secret look with Blaise.

"Umm... Grandmother - this is Hermione Granger, she's a friend from school." He muttered, hoping it would be enough and ignoring the eager look on his grandmother's face which said quite clearly it wasn't. But since no one said anything more, she started asking herself.

"Is she in Slytherin or Ravenclaw?" Her eyes were piercing through Hermione and Harry could bet almost anything that she was looking for similarities between Hermione and her own old schoolmates and friends just to figure out her heritage. Blaise tried to answer this time, but he couldn't think of something smart to say and shut his mouth. Draco had already excused himself from their company because he knew very well he couldn't keep his remarks back this time if he didn't leave at once.

"No, madam. I'm from Gryffindor, madam." Hermione answered and scared both Harry and Blaise out of their thoughts. Her answer seemed to have surprised Mrs. Black also, but still having a last piece of hope left, she tried again.

"Oh I understand... Your family must have been in Gryffindor for centuries. Sometimes things like this happen, even if the person really belongs to somewhere else. I'm telling you - they should throw the stupid hat away, it's getting nuttier every year..."

Harry hoped Hermione would just nod and play along, but he knew it was not going to happen.

"No, madam... I'm the first Hogwarts student in my family. My parents are muggles."

As soon as she had said that the world seemed to collapse. Mrs. Black's face took a sickeningly greenish shadow and she looked as if she was collecting all the air from the world into her lungs.

"A MUDBLOOD IN MY HOUSE!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! IT'S A DISGRACE TO MY ANCESTORS HOME AND YOU ARE LETTING..."

She couldn't finish her rant, because the drapes around her had closed and her voice was cut off. Harry took a deep breath and looked at Blaise. He was pale and looking at Hermione, who looked more shocked than they had ever been.

"Thank Merlin she didn't wake me up or I would have to start cleaning some ashes..." They heard a cheerful voice from the stairs and turned around to look into Sirius's happy face.

"Oh. Hermione... This is mu Uncle Sirius. He's the son of the lady in the painting and the owner of this house!" Harry explained and saw Hermione eyeing Sirius with some caution. Blaise smiled and lightly squeezed her shoulder.

"Don't worry. Sirius is cool. Not at all like his grape of a mother!" He whispered and saw Hermione visibly relax. She sent a smile towards Sirius and he was happy to return it.

"Now... We're going to have a snack and then a nap and then we'll see!" Sirius said and winked at the three friends.

"Draco is already in the kitchen. Actually he was the one who woke me up right in time to come here so I could save your ears and probably eyes too... She's never been that much of a sight. The good looks must run in the male genes..." He laughed and headed for the kitchens, the others quickly following him.

RR.

Devy Black